Obligations to Oneself
by E.Malarkey
Summary: Ash Ketchum, through hard work and effort, has allowed himself one of the greatest opportunities to be a Pokemon trainer under the guidance of Professor Samuel Oak. Ash feels that he has an obligation to himself, and now his partner Eevee to become as great of a trainer as he possibly can.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way shape or form.**

**Obligations to Oneself**

"Ash! Ash, where are you?!"

Ten year old Ash Ketchum heard Professor Oak yelling his name in the distance. The famous pokemon professor had grown quite close to Ash, likely due to how long he had begged the Professor to allow him to help in his corral. While the corral was safe from wild pokemon in most cases because Oak's own pokemon kept everyone in line, the usual by-watcher of Oak's Arcanine had been absent that day, as he was needed for an examination. Ash had been distracted and wandered off leading him to the situation he was in now. In a tree, with several rattatas snapping their angry little jaws at him.

"I'm over here Professor!" Ash yelled back.

Before Professor Oak's form was even visible within the brush, a large, hulking form dove down from the sky slowing just enough before landing to only flatten the grass in a few feet radius.

Ash looked in awe upon Professor Oak's dragonite as it bellowed out a roar, making the rattatas scuttle away.

"Ash, what on earth were you thinking coming out here?!" Professor Oak demanded.

"I'm sorry Professor, I thought I saw a pokemon I haven't seen before in the forest and went to check it out. I didn't mean for any trouble." Ash responded somberly.

The professor sighed, "Ash, I especially know just how fascinating pokemon can be, but you have to be careful, you know how dangerous even rattata can be without your own pokemon to protect you."

Dragonite, sensing Ash's mood, comfortingly rubbed his antennas on his hat knocking it off in the process.

Ash picked his hat back up and smiled slightly at dragonite, though still managed to give a look of understanding to the professor.

The professor sighed again as he watched Ash, and smiled slightly at the interaction between his pokemon and his student, "It's alright Ash, just be more careful next time okay?"

"I will, I promise professor." Ash responded, nodding his head rapidly.

"Good, now let's get back inside, and maybe if I have time, I can show you a few things I've been working on."

7 Years Later

Ash had woken up about an hour ago and was now wearing a black t-shirt along with blue jeans and a belt. As he slipped on his red jacket and donned his cap, he thought about just how momentous this day was. He thought about all the hard work and effort required to get where he was. Today was his day. Today Ash, joined by three other soon to be trainers, would receive his first pokemon. Ash slipped on his backpack and strolled downstairs and out the door.

He had turned seventeen years old about a month ago, and had finally reached the age requirement to become a pokemon trainer. The age requirement had been raised about ten years ago both due to how dangerous it could be to be a trainer, as well as to give the league time to repair after the numerous attacks from Team Rocket and attempts from other smaller criminal groups. Now that those attacks seemed to be history however, the league had begun allowing new trainers to join the frey as long as they met the age of seventeen.

Ash was lucky however, typically trainers would have to find their first pokemon themselves, or use a family pokemon or something similar. However, due to his high test scores, only being bested by Gary Oak in his class, as well as his exceedingly high scores on his practical examinations, he along with three others would be receiving their first pokemon from non other than Professor Oak himself. Ash knew that he and Gary were two of the four trainers, however he had not yet met the other two.

Following tradition, Professor Oak would be giving them a choice between the three Kanto starters, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle, whom all of which could turn into rather powerful beasts when trained correctly. Charizard's intense flames and strong aerial attacks, as well as impressive speed were always appealing, Venusaur's overwhelming arsenal of status affecting moves as well as above average attack and defense could leave many opponents gaping, and Blastoise's powerful blasts of water and unyielding defense would be very difficult for many to approach in battle. Ash had no idea which of them he would pick, but figured that he'd simply base it upon instinct when it comes down to it.

Ash walked up the stairs to Professor Oak's lab nodding at a few of the researchers that he passed by. He had become quite a familiar sight to many if not all of them in his time of aiding Professor Oak in the corral, and being taught by the man. Ash opened the door to the lab and was greeted to the slightly arrogant smirk of Professor Oak's son Gary Oak, as well as the Professor himself.

"Ah Ash there you-" The Professor began.

"Ash!" Gary interrupted. "It's about time you know. I thought you'd be as excited as I was to receive our first pokemon."

"Don't worry Gary I'm plenty excited, I just also happen to remember that the others wouldn't be arriving until about now and would rather not have to stand and wait." Ash responded. "Speaking of which where-"

Ash was cut off by the door opening revealing two other teens just over 16 as well. One was a young woman with dark brown hair, wearing a light blue tank top along with red shorts. She was followed in by a young man that had blonde hair and wore a white shirt with a blue jacket over it, along with some cargo pants.

"Ah, and you two must be the other two trainers receiving their first pokemon yes?" Professor Oak questioned.

"Yes, we are. This is Anthony, and I go by Leaf. It is a pleasure to meet you finally professor." The girl named Leaf stated gracefully.

"Indeed sir, we've heard plenty about you." Anthony added.

"I assure you the pleasure is all mine". Professor Oak replied. "I'm sure that everyone is anxiously waiting, so how about we get started?"

The Professor gathered them up around a small counter, on top of which were 3 pokeballs.

"Before I have each of you choose a starter, I would like to apologize ahead of time by saying I only have one of each of the starters..." Professor Oak paused to let that sink in. "Due to this, I would like for one of you to allow the others to take their starter, and I will get find a replacement for you." Oak concluded, smiling slightly nervously.

Everyone glanced at each other nervously until someone broke the uneasy silence.

"I will wait Professor." Ash declared trustingly.

"Thank you Ash, that is extremely mature of you." Professor Oak replied, seemingly happy with how the event played out.

"Now, before you choose your pokemon, I will first hand you each of your pokedexes, as well as your first five pokeballs." Professor Oak began. "The pokedexes are for your sake as well as mine. My only request to you all, besides being safe and responsible, is that you record as many pokemon on your pokedexes as possible, as the data recorded will help in many future projects." Professor Oak said smiling.

The Professor handed each of the young trainers a pokedex, and each of them briefly checked them out before again focusing on Professor Oak.

"Now I will ask each of you to come forward and take your chosen starter. Let's start with ladies first shall we, Leaf?"

Leaf's eyes widened slightly in surprise, then she slowly approached each of the labeled pokeballs, and chose the one with a leaf symbol in front of it.

Leaf then turned to the Professor and asked, "Is it okay if I go outside to meet it?"

The Professor nodded eagerly, and replied, "Of course! It is always wonderful to be a part of what I hope will be a wonderful relationship between a person and their pokemon!"

Professor Oak then called both his grandson Gary, as well as Anthony up at the same time. Each of them, after glancing at each other, took a pokeball each. Anthony took the pokeball with a symbol of fire in front of it, while Gary picked up the pokeball with the symbol of a droplet of water in front of it.

Anthony left the room as well after thanking the Professor for the opportunity. Gary however, approached Ash, "I'm going to meet my starter, but I'll wait for you outside... Maybe we can even have a quick battle to boost my confidence when I win." Gary left with a smirk on his face.

The Professor waited quietly until Gary had left and then turned to Ash smiling politely, "You know Ash, I had hoped you would be the one willing to stay behind, after all, my second gift could only go to you."

"Second gift?" Ash asked curiously.

"Well lets begin with your starter first." The famous Professor replied handing Ash a pokeball.

Ash stared at the pokeball for a moment, before taking it from the professor. He then looked towards the Professor curiously, and released the pokemon. The pokeball opened and once the flash of light disappeared, a small brown pokemon was left behind, that cocked its head curiously at Ash.

"Wow, an Eevee!" Ash exclaimed surprisedly.

The small, fox-like pokemon stared back at him for a moment, before yipping excitedly and rubbing its head on his leg.

Ash smiled back at the eevee and rubbed its head, to which the small pokemon responded happily to.

"Thank you Professor." Ash said honestly. An Eevee may not have been what Ash had gone in expecting, however it was still a great pokemon to receive in his opinion. While none of its evolutions necessarily had the size or outright strength of the final evolutions of the traditional Kanto starters, they were very versatile and could fit into just about any team.

"Of course Ash." Professor Oak smiled. "However there is still the second gift. You have been helping me for a number of years now after all."

Professor Oak left the room briefly, only to return with a pokemon egg in an incubator.

"This happens is a pokemon egg that should be hatching relatively soon. It also happens to be the product of my own dragonite, along with another pokemon in the corral." He explained. "You and dragonite have become especially close with one another in your time here, and I thought maybe you would like to take care of it, and become the pokemon's trainer once it hatches. Dragonite too seemed pleased by the idea. Of course, it won't hatch into a dratini, for that would require a female of its evolution, of which we have had none in the corral for quite some time. Still, if you are interested both me and dragonite would be honored for you to take, and train whatever should hatch."

Ash, eyes wide with astonishment and amazement replied, "Of course Professor! I am honored for you to have thought first of me!" Ash then asked, "Do you know what will hatch from it?"

The Professor's eyes gleamed, "I am not certain, however I have an idea. There are many pokemon in the dragon and water egg groups, which you already know."

"What do you think it is then professor?" Ash asked eagerly.

"Ah, but that would ruin the fun of it wouldn't it Ash?" Oak joked. "Don't worry, it should hatch quite soon, and you will have your answer."

Ash's shoulders dropped as he pouted slightly, however he then smiled. "Thank you very much Professor, I will take great care of it for both you and Dragonite!"

"I never had any doubts Ash." The kind Professor smiled. "Now, as much as I enjoy having you around, I doubt that you'd like for everyone to leave without you, hurry on Ash, but keep me updated on your progress!"

"I will Professor, thank you again!" Ash replied.

Ash then walked to the door, and after taking a deep breath, opened it and took his first steps out of the building, as a pokemon trainer.

**A/N: Updated some information about Ash's age, and made the chapter cleaner.**


	2. Chapter 2: Making Friends

"So this is Gramp's idea of a pitty pokemon, eh?" Ash heard as he walked back down the stairs that led to Oak's lab with his new partner Eevee at his side.

Gary stood there rather cockily with a smirk drawn on his face. By his side was his new partner Squirtle.

"You wanted a battle?" Ash responded, not willing to let Gary get under his skin.

"I did, but considering you, I'll take however close to a battle as you can give me." Gary responded still smirking irritatingly.

Ash simply nodded, and trailed behind Gary as they went towards a small open space near the corral.

Ash then turned to Eevee, "Eevee, I totally forgot to even check your moves. I'm going to check your moves on the pokedex okay?"

Eevee simply yipped back at him, and he took that as a yes. Ash pointed his pokedex towards Eevee and scanned it.

Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon. Its genetic code is unstable, so it could evolve in a variety of ways. This Eevee is a Female.

This Eevee knows: Helping Hand, Tackle, Sand Attack, and Growl. This Pokemon also has the ability Adaptability which increases the power of moves that are normally geared towards this pokemon. It also has the Hidden Ability Anticipation which will make the pokemon shudder if the opponent knows a super effective move.

Ash's eyes widened in surprise, "Wow a hidden ability too? You're full of surprises aren't you girl?"

Eevee yipped in agreement.

Once Ash and Gary arrived at the clearing, each of them stood opposite of each other with enough space for their pokemon to battle between them and both sides' pokemon faced each other in front of their respective trainers.

"Alright Squirtle let's show them what a real trainer looks like, Tackle!" Gary commanded, beginning the battle.

Squirtle ran towards Eevee attempting to jump at her.

"Growl then dodge Eevee!" Ash yelled at Eevee.

Eevee growled at Squirtle making him wince a bit, then dodged right before Squirtle could make contact.

"Tackle it back now!" Ash told Eevee.

Eevee quickly tackled Squirtle before it could turn around making the small pokemon crash into the ground.

"Tackle again Squirtle!" Gary once again commanded.

"Eevee use Sand Attack!" Ash responded quickly.

As Squirtle once again raced towards Eevee, she quickly whipped her tail sending dirt and sand into Squirtle's eyes. Eevee then, predicting Ash's next command, tackled Squirtle.

"Use Tackle now!" Ash commanded, barely beaten by Eevee.

When Eevee withdrew from Squirtle it was clear that the battle was won, and Ash grinned and began congratulating Eevee.

Eevee yipped happily at Ash and rubbed her head against his leg while he patted her.

Gary mumbled something incoherent, then silently shook his head while he recalled his unconscious squirtle and headed off towards the lab.

Ash however paid little attention to Gary and told Eevee, "Before we head out we need to talk to my mother."

Ash walked to his house with Eevee following closely behind. He opened the door and walked inside.

"Mom, I'm about to head out!" He shouted into the house.

His mom appeared as she walked down the stairs.

"So the Professor gave you an Eevee? Oh, she's absolutely adorable!" His mother squealed as she picked up Eevee.

"He did, and she's already proved herself to be quite a capable battler." He told her proudly.

Eevee yipped happily at him as Ash's mother placed her back on the floor.

"I'm sure she has, she'll be a perfect partner for you." His mother smiled.

His mother looked at him and asked, "Do you have everything? Food for you? Food for your pokemon? A few potions? A sleeping bag?"

"Yep, I have it all. I'm all set." Ash responded, adjusting his backpack with a light sleeping bag attached in order to show his mother.

"Good..." His mother hesitated then stepped forward and put her hands on his shoulders, "I know you're ready for this. It's hard to see you go, but you couldn't make me prouder. You haven't even started your journey and you've already accomplished so much to get the Professor's sponsorship. I love you. Just remember to keep in contact, and remember that not everyone is on your side." She then proceeded to hug her son.

"I will mom, and I'll be careful. I love you too." Ash promised, and hugged her back.

Ash gave her one last smile, and left out the door with Eevee following. He walked through Pallet Town, his home town, without hurry. He knew this day would come, and he was eager. He also knew he may not see Pallet for quite some time. He didn't rush.

Ash and Eevee had been walking for quite a while into Route 1, when suddenly a rattata ambushed them out of a bush, hissing at them.

"Alright Eevee might as well warm up for training with this battle, use Growl then Tackle!" Ash commanded Eevee.

Eevee growled at the rattata making it cower slightly, but before she could use Tackle the rattata dashed towards her with a Quick Attack pushing her back slightly.

Eevee then rushed the rattata with Tackle which ended the battle quickly.

"Well that was a good battle. The rattata actually showed exactly what I'd like to train you first, Quick Attack. How about you get started on training by sprinting back and forth between the trees over there while I gather some firewood?" Ash suggested.

Eevee yipped and bounded over to the trees and began dashing back and forth quickly.

Ash wasn't expecting the move to be hard for her to learn, and should come rather naturally, especially with the quickness she held already.

Ash gathered a good amount of twigs and brush and returned to where they had decided to set up camp. Ash prepared the fire, which wasn't too hard as Professor Oak had taught him how to start a fire long ago, it only took time. When he finished, he began preparing pokemon food for Eevee which was some simple kibble. He then grabbed himself one of the granola bars that he brought. When he finally looked back towards Eevee he smiled as he saw she already had the move mostly down. While she would require more conditioning in order to be able to keep it up and make it faster, it was more than ready for battle.

Eevee quickly ran over to Ash once she smelled the food. She seemed slightly spent after the training, proving to Ash that much more training would be necessary in the future. She did however seem recovered by the time she finished eating.

While Ash was eating he briefly thought about giving Eevee a personalized name, but thought it would be better to wait until she evolved into a specific form. After both of them finished their food, he packed up Eevee's bowl and rolled out his sleeping bag, then laid himself down in it. Eevee quickly curled up next to him and fell asleep.

Ash wasn't worried about sleeping where they were as the fire should keep any pokemon in the immediate area away, and Eevee's more sensitive hearing should alert them if anything got too close.

The next morning Ash prepared them both food and then they spent another hour or so conditioning Eevee.

Ash then packed up and they began their journey together once again. About another hour of walking passed when they encountered another trainer. It was a girl that looked about his age with blonde hair. When they agreed to a battle, she released a pidgey that was about average in size. Ash was initially worried as the bird would have total aerial superiority over Eevee. His worries were however proved to be unnecessary as the pidgey was taken down rather quickly with a well aimed Sand Attack causing the pidgey to crash to the grown mid Quick Attack. Eevee then ended the battle with a Quick Attack of her own.

Ash left the battle, wallet slightly heavier after the girl paid him a portion of her own money received from battles.

After another two hours of walking, Ash figured they should be getting near Viridian City, and was proven right as the outer walls of the city appeared in the distance. Once Ash was near the entrance to the city, he was stopped by a police officer.

"Alright kid, where'd you get the Eevee?" The woman asked slightly menacingly.

"Eevee is my starter, I just left from Pallet Town yesterday." Ash responded quickly.

"Pallet Town huh? You must be one of Professor Oak's. Give me your pokedex then and let's see just where you got the eevee." She commanded.

Ash handed her his pokedex and after a moment of clicking and tapping she sighed, "Okay kid, looks like you were telling the truth. Sorry I had to stop you, we've had a few reports of pokemon thieves and an eevee isn't exactly common."

"That's alright ma'am I understand completely." Ash said.

He did understand too. After the events with so many criminals and organizations, the region had recovered mostly, but that didn't stop the current league from attempting to put a stop to anything starting up again.

Ash headed into the city and his first stop was the Viridian City Pokemon Center. As he headed inside he was surprised to see Leaf sitting down eating inside. He thought about it and realized he probably shouldn't have been surprised as Viridian City was the obvious choice after Pallet, though he didn't see any of the others. Ash took Eevee to the counter for a checkup.

"Hi Nurse Joy, would you mind giving Eevee a quick check up. There shouldn't be anything wrong except maybe some fatigue from traveling." Ash requested politely.

Joy responded promptly, "Of course! I'll make sure nothing's wrong and she should be right back to you soon here."

Ash thanked her then went to the cafeteria and bought a sandwich. He then walked over to Leaf who looked at him and gave a small smile.

"I'm not sure why I'm surprised to see you here, I suppose it's actually more surprising that I haven't seen Anthony or Gary yet." He began.

"Actually they've actually already been here. They got here early this morning and left pretty quickly towards Viridian Forest. Anthony left almost right away eager to train. Gary got here a bit later and left soon after too." She responded. "I stayed to give Bulbasaur a bit of rest because we trained for a bit at the public arenas here."

"Ah, that makes sense then. I may have to go and train for a little bit with Eevee before it's too late too then." He replied when he heard about the public arenas.

Leaf's eyes lit up a bit at the mention of Eevee, "I thought I saw an eevee with you when you entered the pokemon center. Quite a cute pokemon the Professor decided to give you."

Ash laughed a bit, "So I've been told by both you and my mother."

They both chuckled then ate in silence for a moment.

"So are you going to head to Pewter City for your first gym battle?" Leaf began again.

"I've put some thought into it, and considering that it is a Rock-Type gym, I think I'll have to get back to it as I don't think there's much Eevee would be able to do, and I don't see a new pokemon being ready for the gym by the time we get there. I do plan on spending some time in the city before heading to Mount Moon however." Ash said thoughtfully.

"That makes sense, though I don't find myself in the same situation as I have Bulbasaur on my side." She replied smiling towards the pokeball on her belt.

"Mr Ketchum! Your pokemon is ready!" Ash heard, sounded through the speakers.

Ash stood up from the booth and walked to the pokecenter counter. He then thanked Nurse Joy and walked back to Leaf.

"I think I'll go train at those public arenas you were talking about for a bit." He told her.

"Okay, maybe if you don't plan on leaving right away we can head through Viridian Forest together? I've heard it can be a rather long walk and can be dangerous at times." She asked somewhat shyly.

"Absolutely," Ash said confidently. "It would be nice to have some company on the way."

They gave each other a brief smile, and Ash headed off towards the battlefields to get some conditioning in for Eevee.

When Ash and Eevee returned to the pokecenter, Leaf was no longer in sight. Ash figured she had just gone to bed and simply figured he'd do the same. Ash went to Nurse Joy and asked for a room, and retrieved the key to a small room.

Ash quickly fell asleep, however he was woken up in the middle of the night by Eevee nudging him awake.

"Wha-? What is it Eevee?" Ash said, still tired.

Eevee pointed her nose towards Ash's backpack which he had set down next to the small bedside stand with a lamp. His bag was shaking slightly.

"The egg!" Ash thought excitedly. Professor Oak must not have been kidding when he said it would hatch rather soon.

Ash opened his backpack and took out the egg from inside the incubator and set it on the floor. He then turned on the lights and stared at it along with Eevee as it shook and began to crack.

After a few minutes of anxiously waiting, the egg had splintered enough for a slender figure to begin sliding out of the egg. Once its full four foot body slithered out of the egg, Ash was able to identify what it was.

It was an ekans. Ash knew this for sure, however what was odd to him was its coloring. Ekans as far as he knew were to be purple with a band of yellow around them. This ekans however was a green color, which reflected the light especially with the fluid from the egg still covering it, with a gold band around it. Ash quickly put two and two together however and identified it as a shiny ekans. The shiny gene was extremely rare and seemed to be a genetic phenomenon when it comes to pokemon.

"Wow, a shiny ekans!" Ash whispered excitedly to Eevee who yipped quietly at their new friend.

"I bet even Professor Oak will be surprised when he learns about this, even if he did predict an ekans I bet he wasn't expecting it to be shiny!" Ash said excitedly.

The ekans turned towards Ash and hissed quietly at him. Ash was slightly concerned, however newborn ekans weren't yet poisonous so he was willing to take an, as of now, toothless bite in order to befriend it.

"Hello Ekans, my name is Ash and my friend here is Eevee," Ash told the ekans. "I have been taking care of you while you have been in that egg for a couple days now. I'm just going to scan you alright?"

The ekans gave little reaction as it gave a slight nod and then continued flicking its tongue and looking around.

Ash aimed his pokedex at Ekans and allowed it to scan him.

Ekans, the snake pokemon. It always hides in grass. When first born, it has no poison, so its bite is painful, but harmless. The older it gets, the longer it grows. This ekans is a male.

This Ekans knows: Wrap, Leer, and the egg move, Slam. Ekans additionally has the egg move Iron Tail which is not yet available. Ekans has the ability Shed Skin.

Ash was very surprised by what the pokedex had told him. Slam would be a rather powerful neutral move to have access to, and Iron Tail meant that Oak's Dragonite had been trained with Tm's which did not surprise Ash as he knew Professor Oak was extraordinarily strong back in his prime. Ash also knew that breeding pokemon of different species that were within the same egg group could lead to very interesting changes in the product pokemon's biology. Considering one of the Ekan's parents were a dragonite and the other likely an arbok of sufficient strength, this ekan's had great potential. He could already see that Ekans was rather large for a newborn. Ash was very excited to see what potential he could help Ekans unlock.

"Wow Ekans, you're quite impressive aren't you?" Ash said.

Ekans hissed at him, seeming quite proud as he bobbed his head up and down.

"Well Ekans, me and Eevee would love a friend on our journey, and we both would be honored if you joined us. I also promise to help you become as strong as you can if you are interested?" Ash asked with Eevee wagging her tail excitedly beside him.

Ekans stared at him for a moment, before nodding his head and slithering closer to Ash and curling up in front of him.

"That's great! We're so glad to have you!" Ash whisper-yelled.

Ash got up and got a towel out of the bathroom, Ekan's eyes following him the whole way.

"I'm just going to dry you off from your little escape out of your egg okay?" Ash tried to explain to Ekans.

Ekans seemed to understand rather easily and bobbed his head once again.

Ash didn't speak until he had dried the ekans off and threw the towel in the hamper. He was sure the pokemon center staff would understand, they did care for pokemon after all.

"Ekans, I'm going to catch you in a pokeball. I will release you right afterwards, and it will be totally painless. Just try not to resist okay?"

Ekans simply waited for Ash to touch him on the nose with the pokeball, after which the pokeball didn't blink or shake indicating there was no struggle. Ash then released ekans, who slithered up, and laid himself along Ash's shoulders.

Ash laughed, then yawned afterwards, "Alright, as exciting as this whole thing was, I'm still tired, and I'm sure both of you are too. So it's off to bed for us."

Eevee yipped and hopped onto the bed, then waited for Ash to slowly crawl into bed. Ash then took Ekans off his shoulders and laid him down next to himself. Eevee and Ekans both curled up next to Ash, and together they all fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Viridian Forest

**A/N: So to address what pokemon Ash will catch or obtain on his journey, I am definitely willing to take suggestions into consideration. I would like for Ash to have some Pokemon that are not typically in his party in most stories, however there is a reason some of them are so popular as many of them have a lot of potential to work with in a story. I have no plans to have Ash catch any legendaries, but I also only have a very rough idea of what direction I would like to go with the whole plot. I definitely would like to hear any concerns, suggestions, or simply constructive criticism if any of you would like to leave it in the reviews, or PM me. Last but not least, I am also interested in any suggestions for a name for Ash's Ekans. Now to Chapter 3.**

Ash woke up the next morning, and rubbed his eyes blearily. He quickly took notice of the extra weight beside as realization again settled in his mind.

The egg had hatched! An ekans certainly wasn't what he expected, and one that was a shiny was even more of a surprise. Ekans wasn't a rare pokemon by any means, and were actually rather common. A shiny ekans was much more exotic for sure, but considering how common ekans were, it too was likely considered less special than say a shiny dratini or beldum. Regardless, Ash was very excited to have his second and also excited at the potential Ekans had shown already.

Ash got up, changed out of his sleepwear, and nudged his teammates awake. Eevee yawned in response, then slowly hopped off the bed and shook herself, ruffling her fur. Ekans simply raised his head from the coiled position he was in and looked at Ash.

"Hey buddy, I'm gonna return you while we go downstairs so that we don't draw too much attention okay? I think I will also let Nurse Joy give you a quick check up so don't freak out at her, it shouldn't take long and it's just to make sure there were no problems while you were in your egg. I'll probably send you back out when we call Professor Oak." Ash told Ekans.

Ekans bobbed his head in response and waited until Ash returned him.

Once Ekans had disappeared in the red light emitted from the pokeball, Ash picked up his backpack and he and Eevee headed out the door and downstairs. He immediately headed towards the pokecenter front counter which had no line at the time, and spoke to Nurse Joy, "Excuse me Nurse Joy, last night my new Ekans hatched from its egg and I was wondering if you could give him a quick check up in order to make sure there is nothing wrong with him?"

Joy seemed to perk up at the idea of a newly hatched pokemon, "Of course, that should be no problem at all! If you can give me his pokeball I'll be back as fast as I can with him."

He handed her the pokeball and thanked her before heading to the cafeteria to see if he could find Leaf. Ash found her in the same small booth they had sat in the day before and quickly bought a simple breakfast burrito that they were selling in the cafeteria, and sat down across from her.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would show up Ash, though you do look tired." Leaf started, smiling politely.

"Yes well, last night ended up a bit more eventful than expected." He joked, chuckling embarrassedly.

Leaf raised an eyebrow, "Oh, how so?"

Ash finished his bite of his burrito and responded, "Well-"

"Mr. Ketchum your pokemon is ready for retrieval!" They heard through the speakers.

"I'm going to get my pokemon, how about I tell you when we head out?" He asked, finishing his food.

"That's fine, I'll go get the rest of my things and meet you outside." She replied.

Ash got up, "Sounds good."

When Ash got to the counter Nurse Joy turned towards him, "That is quite an ekans you have there, very unusual color pallete I must say."

"He is certainly turning out to be very interesting." Ash smiled at her. "Were there any issues?"

Joy shook her head smiling, "No issues per say. Ekans is definitely a bit larger than most newborns of his species, however other than that everything seemed perfectly in order and your pokemon seems very healthy."

Ash nodded in thought, "I thought he seemed quite large considering how small ekans can be at times. Thank you for the check up."

"Oh, it was no problem at all, I enjoyed seeing such an uncommon specimen." the kind nurse responded.

Ash took his pokeball from the tray, and looked around for the video phones that were in pokecenters. He quickly found one in the corner that seemed private enough.

"Alright Eevee, let's see if we can talk to the Professor before we leave." He muttered typing in the Professor's number.

Eevee wagged her tail excitedly at the thought of seeing the nice professor again.

Professor Oak's face appeared on the screen, though he was looking away as though he were working on something.

"Ah Ash I was wondering when you'd call, how was Route 1?"

"Route 1 was good Professor, thanks for asking. What I'm really calling about will likely interest you more however. The egg hatched!" Ash spoke excitedly.

Oak quickly turned toward the camera and smiled at Ash, "That's great Ash, is it indeed an ekans?"

Ash laughed, "It is, but you'll never guess what else. It's a shiny ekans!"

The Professor's eyebrows rose, "Is it really? That is fascinating..." Oak trailed off for a moment, before continuing, "May I see it?"

Ash smiled and released Ekans, who quickly slithered up and across his shoulders and looked at the camera with him.

"Wow, what amazing coloring... Is there anything else interesting that occured from the breeding, Ash?" Oak asked interestedly.

"Well he has the egg moves Iron Tail and Slam, and he seems larger than the average ekans for his age." He responded.

"That makes sense, Dragonite was indeed taught Iron Tail, and Slam isn't an uncommon egg move for ekans. Bigger you say? Maybe it is from the latent dragon genes. The Ekans species is very distantly related, perhaps having a Dragonite as a parent made the genes a bit more prominent..." Oak thought then smiled, "Please do keep me updated Ash, I'd love to hear just what becomes of him. I'll be sure to keep Dragonite informed as well."

"Okay, will do Professor. Have a good day" Ash said grinning.

"You too Ash" He heard as the camera shut off.

Ash turned his head to talk to Ekans and Eevee, "You guys ready to head out?"

Ekans hissed and Eevee yipped.

They managed to get out of the pokemon center with little attention being drawn to them.

Leaf looked at him and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Ekans on his shoulders, "I'm guessing he has something to do with your late night?"

"Yes, do you have everything?" He asked. "I figure we'll have plenty of time to talk on the way to Pewter."

"Yep, I'm ready when you are." She replied.

Together they began the next section of their journeys.

Ash and Leaf had been walking through Viridian Forest for quite a bit, and had been sharing stories of how each other's trips through Route 1 went.

Eventually Leaf had to again raise the question, "So, what's the story with this shiny ekans?"

Ekans turned to look at her from his shoulder before laying back down across Ash's shoulders.

"Well," Ash began, "Professor Oak has a dragonite that apparently bred with arbok. Going back further though, me and dragonite have always had a good relationship, he even saved me from some rattatas when I was younger. I suppose due to this relationship dragonite felt that I would be a suitable trainer for the offspring."

"I see." Leaf said thoughtfully. "You and the Professor must be close then for him to be willing to give you the egg of one of his own pokemon." Leaf suggested curiously.

"Yeah, the Professor has always been somewhat of a mentor for me. I used to help care for the pokemon in his corral, in return he would allow me to sit in on some of his work and teach me the foundation of pokemon." Ash explained, thinking back to his time in the corral. "Me and Gary go back quite a ways as well. Him and I were top of our class, which probably had something to do with the professor's influence on each of us."

"Ah yes, Gary..." Leaf started. "He seems to pose an interesting figure."

"Yeah he can come off as a jerk and a snob sometimes." Ash responded, understanding what she was getting at. "He wasn't always like that, I think the reputation of being the grandson of Professor Oak simply got to him after a while. He'll probably cool down once he loses a few battles and realizes that he isn't Arceus' gift to the world."

Leaf laughed in response, and they continued on for a while.

After another hour of walking and talking Leaf freaked out.

"Eeeh!" She shrieked, batting a weedle that fell from a branch off her shoulder.

Weedle were a very common bug type, especially in Viridian Forest. They were a small, worm-like pokemon that had a small poisonous stinger on its head and tail. While they were dismissed by some trainers, they grew and evolved rather quickly and beedrill could be quite a threat to pokemon and trainers alike.

It wasn't very large, maybe a foot and a half long. But the size didn't matter. Weedle were poisonous, and to bigger pokemon it wouldn't matter much, but to humans the poison could be extremely dangerous, or potentially fatal. Ash and Leaf stepped back together, and Leaf's bulbasaur took initiative using vine whip to take care of the weedle.

"Okay we should probably be a bit more careful." Leaf whispered to Ash quietly.

Ash simply nodded in response and then turned to Eevee, "If you hear anything don't bother to make us aware okay?"

Eevee nodded her head seriously understanding the importance of her role.

Thankfully, they continued walking for the rest of the day with little interruptions. They encountered a Pidgey at some point which Leaf ended up catching with the help of her Bulbasaur's Vine Whip and a good Tackle.

When they could just barely see the light produced by sunset reflecting off the tree tops, they decided to set up camp. Ash put down ekans and collected some wood for the fire, while Leaf decided to release Pidgey and give it the rundown on how everything would work. While Ash prepared everything he had Eevee do some more light conditioning, they wouldn't need a full training session as they had walked for quite a while today.

At some point while Ash was attempting to start the fire, he turned around when he heard a small scuffle. There he saw Ekans wrestling around and hissing at a small weedle. Ash was initially worried until he realized that Weedle's poison wouldn't do much to Ekans as his body was built to produce much more potent venom, and that was if the weedle's small stinger could pierce Ekan's scales. Eventually Ekans wrapped himself around the small weedle and eventually it passed out in Ekans' tight grip. The end result was that Ash would not find feeding Ekan's to be necessary.

By the time Ash had gotten the fire set up, Leaf had returned and they both set out some food for Eevee and Bulbasaur respectively. Leaf had decided to let Pidgey go hunting for a small meal as long as it returned to them shortly. Once they and their pokemon had been fed they prepared for bed. They decided to leave their pokemon as their heightened senses would keep them safe when the fire inevitably went out.

The two went through a very similar pattern the next day, getting some training in, but mostly trying to get through the forest as fast as possible. Ekans was beginning to develop larger venom glands that would allow him to learn Poison Sting and he was growing longer daily, while Eevee's endurance had shot up quite a lot and her Quick Attack was becoming much faster. Leaf's Pidgey was beginning to show signs of evolution with small red feathers appearing at the top of its head. It was rather large when she had caught it so it made sense that it was nearing evolution. Her Bulbasaur had been training hard attempting to figure out the correct mixture of chemicals in order to achieve Sleep Powder.

It was the third day however that things changed a bit. Ash and Leaf were continuing through Viridian Forest when suddenly the bushes around them began rustling. Out of the bushes came five weedle surrounding them. Ekans quickly dropped off Ash's shoulders and began hissing and rattling his tail as they approached, while Eevee stood steadfast and ready to protect her master and friends. Leaf's bulbasaur stood by her with its vines out ready to protect her, while her hand was placed on Pidgey's pokeball ready to release him in a moment's notice.

The weedle were certainly the biggest they had seen yet. Before, the largest they had seen weren't even half of Ekan's full length. These weedle were well over half his length being roughly three feet long each.

Ash's group was doing well defending so far, as Ekans' had one weedle pinned down, Eevee raced around the other two weedles occasionally getting a decent hit with Quick Attack, and Bulbasaur whipped the final two weedles around rather well. Things were looking rather good and Ekans' was almost done with his fight, coiling tightly around the still smaller weedle who couldn't get enough power behind it's tail to actually stab through any of Ekans' stronger scales. Ekan's unconventionally uncurled and swung the light weighted weedle with his own tail into a tree and then used a final slam to finish the fight. Then, everything went wrong.

As soon as the first weedle was out, he heard a high-pitched squeal from where Eevee was fighting the other two weedle. It seemed they had caught on to the fact that they couldn't catch her and used string shot just enough to slow her down. When she got too close to one of them it swiped her with its stinger cutting her slightly making her back up quickly. She, in her frantic state, hadn't noticed that the other weedle had slipped behind her and it too stuck her with its stinger. Eevee would need medical attention rather quickly. This wasn't the only issue however.

As soon as Leaf released Pidgey to help, Ash heard a buzzing from her side of the battle. It seemed they had disturbed a beedrill during the battle. Beedrill were typically rather territorial and protective of weedle. They may have gotten lucky as no other beedrill were in sight yet, but one beedrill was a big enough problem. Weedle could be dealt with, however in the state they were currently in, a beedrill was far outside of their league.

Ash quickly sprinted over to Eevee and picked her up while Ekans hissed at the beedrill. Leaf's pidgey was diving over the weedle keeping them distracted and even managed to pluck one up, and spear it's midsection with his sharp beak finishing it off. The bigger problem was the beedrill.

Ekans' hissing eventually drew the beedrill's attention and it flew quickly over to Ekans' who managed to just barely slither out of the way of one of the beedrill's lunges. Before the beedrill could lunge again, Ash had picked up a rock in the hand that wasn't carrying Eevee, and threw it at the beedrill.

The rock hit the beedrill in the back of head, and it instantly turned its large red eyes in Ash's direction. Ash turned to get some distance, but Leaf too seemed to get the idea and threw a stone at the beedrill in order to save Ash some time.

The beedrill quickly swung towards her and she too turned to run. Unfortunately, about three steps into her run, she tripped and fell face down onto the forest floor. Beedrill was flying as fast as it could towards her, and just before it got within striking distance, a miracle happened.

Bulbasaur, in an entirely instinctual act to save it's trainer, spewed a small geyser of powder straight into the face of the beedrill. Bulbasaur's Sleep Powder was a work in progress, but in this moment that didn't matter. In all of their eyes, it wasn't important if the Sleep Powder was safe to use on other pokemon, or if it was too potent to be battle ready. All that mattered to Ash and Leaf was that the beedrill, as of that moment, was out for the count.

"Ash! We need to get Eevee to a pokemon center quickly!" Leaf yelled to him.

"I know, we have to be close to Pewter City by now let's run for it!" Ash screamed back.

Leaf quickly returned Bulbasaur in order to run faster, and yelled for Pidgey to follow them, who was just finishing off the last weedle.

They sprinted as fast as they could, and eventually they had found their way out of Viridian Forest, and found their way to Pewter City.

There was a man at the entrance to the city that greeted them, "Hello welcome to-"

"We have a poisoned pokemon! Where is the pokemon center?" Ash cut him off quickly, worried about Eevee.

"Uh-I-Its on the corner of this street on your right!" The man stuttered back.

Leaf and Ash bolted to the Pokemon Center and pushed the doors open. Ash then raced to the counter with Eevee still in his arms.

"Nurse Joy! Eevee was poisoned by two large weedles, can you help her!? Please?" He asked frantically.

"Yes of course!" Joy quickly took Eevee from his arms. "Chansey!" She shouted, turning to the large pink pokemon often found aiding the Nurse's. "Take the eevee to the back while I get the antidote ready!" She raced to another room to do just that.

Ash numbly sat down next to Leaf and she placed her hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure she'll be fine, weedle poison is usually pretty slow acting, and we got here pretty quick." She stated rather confidently.

"I know," Ash said shakily, "I'm just worried for her."

While Ash was worried, he knew bothering Nurse Joy would do no good for Eevee. Knowing this, he sighed and resigned himself to wait for Joy to return with what would be hopefully good news.


End file.
